ICC Note:
Egyptian Copts Christians, unable to support their families from their home area, often make a tumultuous journey into Libya in search of work. Libya is hardly a safe country for Christians, as Islamic extremists often operate with little or no opposition. In 2015, ISIS released a video showing the mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts. Some of these Coptic men were from the part of Cairo known as the Garbage City, a predominately Christian neighborhood known for its intense poverty. The death of these 21 men left their families without their primary breadwinner. On Thursday, Libya’s Public Prosecution announced that the perpetrators of these kidnappings and the subsequent murders have been arrested. Continue to pray for those families whose lives were forever altered by this unspeakable tragedy.
09/29/2017 Libya (Associated Press) – Libya’s Public Prosecution announced on Thursday that the perpetrators of the kidnapping and beheading of 21 Copts in February 2015 have been arrested after authorities identified the location of the beheaded Egyptian Copts in Sirte, Libya, al-Wasat news online reported.
The Egyptian prosecution had referred 20 people in 2016 to court for forming a terrorist cell affiliated to the Islamic State group in Libya, saying that a number of the defendants had been involved in the beheading of the 21 Egyptians.
The defendants face accusations of committing acts of “violence and vandalism, resisting authorities and possession of firearms, which led to threatening public security.”
The defendants agreed with leaders of the Islamic State in Libya to establish a group based in Egypt’s Matrouh governorate, which would embrace the ideas of ISIS, according to Egyptian public prosecution’s investigations in 2016.
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